Part 19 (1/2)
”Ah, well she asked me to the c.o.c.ktail party she's having before Anna Maria's ball.”
”Tiff Henley is having a c.o.c.ktail party?” Cindy said.
”She a.s.sured me you were coming,” Ragnor replied.
”I hadn't had a chance to tell you,” Jordan told them quickly.
”You knew she was having a c.o.c.ktail party?” Jared queried.
”I just learned about it this morning.”
The wine steward, who had been standing nearby, cleared his throat. Jared quickly apologized in Italian, and a discussion regarding choices for dinner wine went around the table.
”I think you just found out about this c.o.c.ktail party tonight.”
Jordan started, Ragnor's whisper so close against her cheek, so softly spoken.
She smiled sweetly at him. ”I think that big egos can come in very large packages as well.”
His head remained lowered near hers, his eyes dark, intense, and strangely serious. ”Do you dislike me, Miss Riley?” ”Yes,” she whispered.
”Why?”
”Maybe because you insult me each time we meet.”
”I wouldn't dream of insulting you.”
”I think that you implied I looked like a real hooker in red vinyl.”
Avery slight smile curved his lips. ”I could apologize, but that isn't really the answer, is it? So, why do you dislike me?”
”Maybe because you're a liar,” she heard herself say.
”What lies have I told?” Ragnor inquired.
”You were at the contessa's ball. And you deny it.”
He sat back. ”We're not at all friends, I do a.s.sure you. That is no lie.”
She would have believed him. Except at that moment, Raphael suddenly had a question for Ragnor.
”Ragnor. I saw you with the contessa in the Square today. At least, I'm quite certain that it was the contessa. She was wearing a mask, but... there's something in the way she moves, yes? Have you two decided that you are not such great enemies?” Raphael was full of his sense of fun. He lifted his winegla.s.s. ”You seemed quite close.”
”Like the sun and the moon, my friend,” Ragnor said evenly.
Everyone at the table was staring at him.
”Night and day,” Anna Maria murmured.
Jordan excused herself suddenly, rising with a murmur about going to the ladies room and asking Lynn to order for her. She hurried off to the restroom and doused her face in cold water. She stared at her reflection.
”Go home, get out of this insanity!” she told herself. But the more it seemed she should do so, the more she longed to run, the more she felt impelled to stay.
Ragnor was a liar. He was with Tiff today, and with the contessa in the Square. It didn't change the fact that she was torn between hostility . . . and almost overwhelming desire.
”He's handsomely built,” she told her reflection. ”Good, rugged features, great hands.
You've been alone; you lost a fiance a year ago. You are human, and that is all.”
She suddenly realized that another woman had come in and was staring at her. She had spoken aloud. ”Scusi, scusi,” the woman said.
”No, no, per favore, mi scusi,” Jordan murmured quickly, slipping by the woman.
Great. As if the world didn't think that Americans were crazy enough.
She ran right into Ragnor. He had apparently followed her, and waited for her to emerge.
”I had to make you understand that I am not in any way the contessa's friend,” he told her.
She shook her head. ”Your friends.h.i.+ps are completely your own business, Mister . ..
Mister ...” She threw up her hands. ”I don't even know your last name.”
”It's important that you believe me.”
”Why?”
”It may be important that you trust me.”
”I'm sorry, I try not to trust comparative strangers at the very best of times.” She started by him. He caught her hand.
”I shouldn't be such a stranger.”
”Trust me, ”she said, extricating her hand from his. ”You are very strange, sir.” She started by him again.
Somehow, and she wasn't at all sure how he managed it, he was in front of her again.
”Honestly, Jordan, I'm sorry I insulted your vinyl. I meant no offense. You were simply far too enticing.”
”Thank you. Excuse me,” she murmured, and this time, he didn't stop her.
”Jordan! I hope that I ordered well for you,” Lynn said as she reached the table.
”I'm sure that you did,” Jordan a.s.sured her, taking her seat.
She pointedly gave her attention to Lynn as Ragnor took his chair. ”What am I having?”
”A great antipasto, there on the table now. Then rigatoni funghetti, delicious pasta with mushrooms in oil and garlic, and then seppia.”
”And what is that?” Jordan asked.